On-board radar apparatus

Abstract

An on-board radar apparatus includes an antenna unit configured by combining one of a lens and a reflector, and a plurality of antenna elements, a transmission and reception unit configured to emit a radio wave using, for at least one of transmission or reception, a partial antenna of a plurality of patterns configured by the antenna elements that are part of the plurality of antenna elements, and to receive a reflection wave obtained by reflection of the radio wave from an object, and a detection unit configured to detect the object based on the reflection wave received by the transmission and reception unit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An on-board radar apparatus comprising:
 an antenna unit configured by combining one of a lens and a reflector, and a plurality of antenna elements;   a transmission and reception unit configured to emit a radio wave using, for at least one of transmission or reception, a partial antenna of a plurality of patterns configured by the antenna elements that are part of the plurality of antenna elements, and to receive a reflection wave obtained by reflection of the radio wave from an object; and   a detection unit configured to detect the object based on the reflection wave received by the transmission and reception unit.   
     
     
         2 . The on-board radar apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein a combination of the antenna elements that form the partial antenna is selected according to a characteristic of one of the lens and the reflector.   
     
     
         3 . The on-board radar apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a phase control unit configured to control a phase of a signal based on a radio wave received by the antenna elements that form the partial antenna, based on at least one of a number of the antenna elements that form the partial antenna, an interval of the antenna elements, a value indicating directionality of the antenna elements and an aperture surface of an array antenna configured by the plurality of antenna elements.   
     
     
         4 . The on-board radar apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an amplitude control unit configured to control an amplitude of a signal based on a radio wave received by the antenna elements that form the partial antenna, based on at least one of a number of the antenna elements that form the partial antenna, an interval of the antenna elements, a value indicating directionality of the antenna elements and an aperture surface of an array antenna configured by the plurality of antenna elements.   
     
     
         5 . The on-board radar apparatus according to  claim 3 , further comprising:
 an amplitude control unit configured to control an amplitude of the signal based on the radio wave received by the antenna elements that form the partial antenna, based on at least one of a number of the antenna elements that form the partial antenna, the interval of the antenna elements, the value indicating the directionality of the antenna elements and the aperture surface of the array antenna configured by the plurality of antenna elements.   
     
     
         6 . The on-board radar apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the plurality of antenna elements is arranged in a straight line.   
     
     
         7 . The on-board radar apparatus according to  claim 3 ,
 wherein at least one of the number of the antenna elements that form the partial antenna, the interval of the antenna elements, the value indicating the directionality of the antenna elements and the aperture surface of the array antenna configured by the plurality of antenna elements is selected according to a characteristic of one of the lens and the reflector.   
     
     
         8 . The on-board radar apparatus according to  claim 4 ,
 wherein at least one of the number of the antenna elements that form the partial antenna, the interval of the antenna elements, the value indicating the directionality of the antenna elements and the aperture surface of the array antenna configured by the plurality of antenna elements is selected according to a characteristic of one of the lens and the reflector.   
     
     
         9 . The on-board radar apparatus according to  claim 5 ,
 wherein the phase control unit adjusts the phase of the signal received by the antenna elements that form the partial antenna so that a side lobe point of an antenna pattern of a first antenna element that is one of the plurality of antenna elements included in the partial antenna and a null point of a second antenna element that is included in the partial antenna and is one of the plurality of antenna elements except for the first antenna element overlap each other, and   wherein the amplitude control unit adjusts the amplitude of the signal received by the antenna elements that form the partial antenna so that the side lobe point of the antenna pattern of the first antenna element and the null point of the second antenna element overlap each other.